U.s. Tells Court Of Plot By Drug Dealer To Kill 4

September 30, 1987|By William B. Crawford Jr.

A plot by a Colombian drug dealer to kill a federal prosecutor and three others failed when his cocaine ring collapsed and he could not come up with the money to hire assassins, a jury in U.S. District Court in Chicago was told Tuesday.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Thomas Scorza described the alleged plot while outlining the government`s case against the convicted leader of a onetime multimillion-dollar cocaine ring and two alleged accomplices. All three defendants are natives of Colombia.

Scorza said evidence of the plot was gathered by two federal undercover agents who infiltrated the conspiracy at its earliest stages by posing as

Scorza said the three also sought to kill Fanny Altamirano, Chaverra-Cardona`s former housemaid and her two children, because she had ``flipped``

and decided to become a government witness against Chaverra- Cardona.

Scorza made the charges as the trial opened Tuesday in the courtroom of Judge Nicholas Bua.

Later, under questioning by U.S. Atty. Anton Valukas, Castillo testified that he learned of the plot against him after he had convinced Altamirano to become a government witness against Chaverra-Cardona.

Castillo said he was told of the plot by a prisoner being held in a cell next to Chaverra-Cardona`s in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. Chaverra-Cardona was in the center awaiting trial on drug dealing charges. He was convicted of those charges last month and is awaiting sentencing.

The government contends that while Chaverra-Cardona was in the correctional center he learned that Altamirano had agreed to become a witness against him and sought to have her and her children killed along with Castillo. After learning of the alleged plot, the government sent in agents posing as hired killers to gather more evidence.

Cuero and Urego have been in custody since their indictment in May on charges that they and Chaverra-Cardona conspired to pay $105,000 to assassins to kill Castillo, Altamirano and her children. Scorza said the collapse of Chaverra-Cardona`s cocaine ring left it unable to generate the $105,000.

Later Tuesday, defense attorneys belittled the government case. Defense attorney Bryan Schultz argued that government witnesses are not to be believed, while defense attorneys Steven Muslin and William Kampenga predicted that the government would introduce no evidence that Cuero and Urego actually participated in the alleged plot.